


The Kid

by Katowisp



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Accidental Baby Yoda Acquisition, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e03 The Asset, Gen, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Mandalorian, Star Wars References, The Author Regrets Nothing, single dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:54:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21813262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katowisp/pseuds/Katowisp
Summary: Inspired from when the Mandalorian fell from the Jawa fortress. Realistically, he probably shouldn't have survived that fall.The Kid ensures he did.
Relationships: Mandalorian - Relationship
Comments: 24
Kudos: 375





	The Kid

The Kid watched the Gunslinger climb the moving fortress. It watched him fight the fierce, red-eyed creatures. When the Kid had first seen them, they had been amusing. They moved larger than their small bodies belayed, and it had thought it would be an easy fight for the Gunslinger. The Gunslinger seemed to think so, too.

They had both been wrong.

For a moment, the Gunslinger disappeared over the edge of the Fortress, and the Kid waited for the huge tracked vehicle to ground to a stop. The Kid was sure that somehow, the Gunslinger would overcome the hundreds of foes within.

The Kid watched as the figure of the Gunslinger, wrapped in sparkling blue, toppled over the edge. It waited for him to spin, to land with grace and fury.

It felt the bones crack as the Gunslinger slammed against the ground, and it wondered if the journey was over already.

It did not think so. Many sorts of things had come for it, and many things had died. It had known this, even though the egg had been closed. It had felt life forces, bright and fierce, flicker and extinguish. It had felt some of them go quickly, little suns that blinked out and all the universes that had existed within those suns were gone. It had felt some of them linger and fight, and then fade all the same.

When it had felt the Gunslinger come, it was a brighter sun then all the ones that had come before. It was focused in a way the others hadn’t been. And when it had stared up into the faceless helmet of its savior, it had known it was finally safe.

The fortress rumbled through the canyon, the red-eyed creatures cheering in mass at the top. It watched as it disappeared into the desert.

It watched the Gunslinger, and it waited. The man did not move. The sun moved across the cloudless sky, and the Kid _felt_. It _felt_ the life force that was the Gunslinger. It _felt_ the broken bones, the ribs separated from the spine and the swelling in the brain, and it _touched_ the lifeforce that surrounded the Gunslinger. It willed the bones to knit back to their proper place. It urged the blood vessels to heal, and the Gunslinger’s unconsciousness became the restless sleep of a man healing, and not of one dying

It waited, sleep pulling on its own consciousness but it knew that the time would come to rest.

But not yet.

The sun had moved several more degrees in the sky before the Gunslinger woke. It watched as the man picked himself up. He was still sore—the Kid couldn’t fix that—and it could feel the confusion as the Gunslinger regarded himself, knowing that he should have died in the fall. It cooed when the man looked at him and felt warmth when the man limped to where he was.

“You’re okay,” the man said, placing a gentle hand on the corner of the egg.

The Kid cooed again.

The Gunslinger nodded. He looked down the canyon, following the tracks of the walled fortress. Sighing, he turned back to the Kid. “We will find Kuiil.” He tapped his forearm, and the egg slung into motion, following him as he retraced his steps back to the ranch.

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Later, as the man (Mandolorian, or Mando, and not Gunslinger, it learned, and the Kid knew he had a name, and that names had power, so it would respect that the man kept it to himself) fought the giant horned creature, it knew that this would be the end, if it did not intervene.

Forcing its will on a conscious, angry creature, was more than it had done before. For a moment, it wasn’t sure it would be able to do it at all, and the Kid would once again be adrift in chaos, waiting for someone to come, and knowing that the next one that came would not be as gentle and kind as the Mandalorian. 

It did not want that, and the Kid remade the energy around the creature, and it ground to a halt long enough for the Mandalorian to vanquish the creature. The Kid felt guilty—it did not want to be participant to the death of another living creature, especially one that was as innocent as the Mudhorn—but it knew enough to know that life ebbed and flowed, and that the Mudhorn was gone in this form, but that its energy seeped back into the desert and sky, and that it would be life, once more.

Sure that it was finally safe, the Kid allowed unconsciousness to wash over it.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The Kid felt Betrayal , as the Mandalorian handed it over to the man whose soul was cold with hate and singular purpose. The Kid felt Rage, and did not know what to do with it, because the Kid had never felt it before.

The Man of Ice handed him over to a man with shaded glasses, and he was a gentler, kinder man, but he was not the Mandalorian, and he did not have the will to save the Kid.

“I’m sorry.” He told the Kid, but his apology was hollow, because he would not act.

When the Mandalorian came back, resplendent in his silver armor, the Kid knew it had made the right choice in saving him on the desert planet.

And when the Mandalorian fought escape—well, if some of the blaster shots went wild when they had been shot true, the Kid didn’t feel bad at all.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

On the forested planet, the Kid enjoyed being a kid. They called him He, and he was okay with that, too, although the Mandalorian still referred to him as The Child and the Kid and “it” and never “him,” and the Kid was okay with that, too.

The Mandalorian hoped this could be the Kid’s future, and the Kid knew it could never be—not as long as the man with a soul of ice and Greef were after them—it appreciated the respite. It had not been allowed to be a child in many years, and it enjoyed it now.

It felt as the Mandalorian questioned his mission, and wondered if this was the time he would allow his helmet to be removed, and to finally settle down in love and comfort. It’s heart ached for the man beneath the armor. It hoped the man could be happy here.

It knew he couldn’t be.

And when the Bounty Hunter came for him, and the Mandalorian sheltered it in armored arms, the Kid felt at home in a way it hadn’t the entire stay on the planet.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The Kid enjoyed the woman and her droids. When she inquired after something for him to eat, it added, “Meat” to her thoughts, and she replaced it, “with bones” that was okay.

The Woman doted after the Kid, and it enjoyed the attention. She had too much hair, but she had a fierceness about her that it knew the Mandalorian appreciated. 

But when the other kid came, it allowed to take him hostage. Mos Eisley, it turned out, was no safer than any other place.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

“We need money.” The Mandalorian said unhappily. “This is a bad idea,” he continued, but he did not change trajectory. The Kid hummed in agreement. It didn’t know where they were going, but if the Mandalorian thought it was a bad idea, it was.

“I will show you the ship. Let me show you the places to hide.” The Mandalorian picked him up from his seat and allowed the Kid to toddle behind him as he pointed out hiding places. “Hopefully they won’t find you at all, but I’ll be on a mission, and I’ll have the _Crest_ locked, but a locked door has never stopped Ran before.”

The Kid had thought the ship was going to be left in the bay, and apparently the Mandalorian had thought so, too. It felt the Mandalorian’s surprise long before the others boarded the ship and knew to hide in its locked stay.

It felt the Mandalorian’s anxiety as one of the life force’s above the ship wrestled with his helmet, so when the life force mangled the code over the closet door, the Kid allowed it to open. It allowed itself to be picked up by the man, and after the man dropped him, it felt a flush of relief with the Mandalorian placed him gently back in the hold.

“Be safe,” he muttered, before locking the door.

The Kid couldn’t feel Droids the way it felt living creatures, but after the Mandalorian left, it toggled the door open and waited. It listened in as it heard the other creatures communicate with the droid, and it waited for the Mandalorian. It watched as the droid fiddled with Greef’s recorded comm.

It waited.

When it heard the Betrayal, it made a noise so the droid would notice. If it had been a different sort of kid, it would have felt fear. And it did, but not fear for itself, but fear for the Mandalorian, who was surrounded by enemies.

The Kid hid in all the places the Mandalorian had taught it. It lead the droid around the ship,.

The Kid climbed back into its hold, knowing it would be found, and ready to protect itself and the ship. When the droid buzzed the door open, the Kid dug for the Force that surrounded all things—even the electronic things—and focused. When the droid collapsed, it stared at its hand, surprised. It had been so focused it hadn’t noticed the Mandalorian.

“Stay here,” the Mandalorian instructed, closing the door.

Later, after he boarded ship and they were the only two life forms left, the Mandalorian put the Kid back in its seat. It watched as they entered hyperspace after dodging the X-wings, and the tension visibly left the Mandalorian’s body.

“I told you it was a bad idea.” the Mandalorian handed him the knob from the shift.

The Kid could feel the wound in the Mandalorian’s shoulder. It could feel the blood seeping between the Beskar plates. It could feel the bruises blooming beneath the armor.

It cooed.

It didn’t know how long they would have to travel, or how far, but it knew that the Mandalorian would protect it, and he would protect him.

**Author's Note:**

> I've got some ideas I'm working on for the Mandalorian. Excuse my gender neutral pronouns, but the Kid hasn't been identified as a he or she, so I won't, either. After I saw the Mandalorian fall from the Jawa fortress, I felt there was no way he could survive without a little Force intervention. This is current through episode 6. 
> 
> P.s. It's not beta'd. I am in sore need of a beta. If you love editing, hit me up.


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